No, no, don’t get up! Stay right where you are because this year, Vulture Festival is coming straight to you. That’s right: No lines, no passes, no jostling for the seat most likely to let you make direct eye contact with Rachel Bloom — just the actual events with all your favorites, along with a few surprises, streamed right into your home. And if our first lineup announcement is any indication, this will be the biggest year for our little pop-culture extravaganza yet. It’s so big you might decide it’s worth putting shoes on, just to feel fancy.
This year, we’ll be raising a glass to the life and career of the legend, the icon, the irreplaceable, the inimitable Whoopi Goldberg with our Honorary Degree. We’re also reuniting the cast of Northern Exposure (yes, with John Corbett and everything!); Luca Guadagnino is gonna teach us about film; Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba will bless us with their respective ethereal glows; Henry Winkler will offer advice on the art of acting; Rachel Bloom is confronting her real-life fifth-grade bully (not kidding!); The Baby-Sitters Club cast is hosting a sleepover; the boys from New Girl are having a guys’ night; John Wilson is giving advice; and Samantha Bee will be joining Rebecca Traister to chat about the state of our democracy.
It’s all happening October 26 through October 30, and the best part? There’s only one ticket to buy! That’s right, one ticket gets you access to all these events, plus more we will announce soon. This will definitely be among the top-five most fun things you do this whole year. We realize that list is probably only five things long, but still.
Get your tickets now at VultureFestival.com!
Honorary Degree
Whoopi Goldberg
She’s a fearless performer, an American icon, and now the recipient of Vulture’s Honorary Degree.
Whoopi Goldberg wasn’t getting the work she deserved, so she wrote her own show. When Whoopi Goldberg debuted on Broadway in 1984 and then on HBO the next year, it set a new standard for solo performance. She soon won the hearts of filmgoers as Celie in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple, which film critic Roger Ebert hailed as “one of the most amazing debut performances in movie history.†It was only a sign of things to come, as Goldberg’s decades-long career of originating some of our culture’s most memorable roles made her an international household name. As one of just 16 people on planet Earth to achieve the status of EGOT (winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony), she’s far past the need for even a surname. Whoopi is Whoopi: She’s a fearless performer, an American icon, and now the recipient of Vulture’s Honorary Degree.
TV
State of the Union With Samantha Bee and Rebecca Traister
In case you somehow forgot — and we demand you tell us how you did that — it’s an election year.
It won’t be long until our whole world is set to change again, and Vulture Festival wants to make sure you’re as ready for that as you are for, say, the Daria reboot. So we’ve brought together two of our country’s most trenchant political minds: New York Magazine writer-at-large Rebecca Traister and Samantha Bee, host of the Emmy-winning late-night show Full Frontal With Samantha Bee. They’ll be discussing how the year’s, um, events, have brought us to where we are, what we might expect for November, and what the heck we can do about it.
TV
The Northern Exposure “Film Festivalâ€
Celebrate Northern Exposure’s 30th anniversary with a good old-fashioned small-town film festival.
We’re descending on the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska, populated by Rob Morrow, Barry Corbin, Janine Turner, Cynthia Geary, and John Corbett for a look back at some of our favorite moments from the show, conversations with the cast, and, of course, to stimulate their local economy by taking up all the hotel rooms. Will there be a moose? No! The moose’s agent wouldn’t get back to us.
TV
How To With John Wilson
Presented by HBO
Hey, New York! Documentary filmmaker and self-described “anxious New Yorker†John Wilson shares his hilarious odyssey of self-discovery and observations of NYC daily life with the new HBO docu-comedy series How To With John Wilson. In the six-part series, John compulsively and covertly films the lives of his fellow New Yorkers while attempting to share everyday advice on relatable topics. This event will feature a special screening of the second episode, followed by a Q&A with Wilson himself, and Executive Producer, Michael Koman. So buckle up, baby, because things are about to get pretty wild.
TV
The Baby-Sitters Club Sleepover
You’re invited to a real-life sleepover with The Baby-Sitters Club!
Grab your PJs and join cast members Sophie Grace, Momona Tamada, Shay Rudolph, Xochitl Gomez, Malia Baker, and showrunner Rachel Shukert for the ultimate girls’ night in! We’ll be sharing show secrets, taking a peek at some brand-new content, welcoming special guests, and playing a good old-fashioned round of truth or dare. It is a sleepover after all ——chaperoned by our special guest moderator, Busy Philipps!
Film
Luca Guadagnino Film School
Join the man himself and Vulture’s Hunter Harris as they discuss five of the scenes that first inspired him.
Luca Guadagnino’s work is defined by his meticulousness: His movies are textured, vivid invitations to a character’s desires and conflicts. Call Me by Your Name and I Am Love are loose, fevered romances; Suspiria and A Bigger Splash are about power and madness. In his latest work, the “loving and brooding†coming-of-age We Are Who We Are, Guadagnino relishes in the confused, fervent friendships of a group of teens on a military base. Join the man himself and Vulture’s Hunter Harris as they discuss five of the scenes that first inspired Guadagnino to bring his own point of view to the cinema and how they helped him shape his craft as a filmmaker.
TV
Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba: That’s It, That’s the Event
Calling all millennials: Your heroes have arrived.
Calling all millennials: Your heroes have arrived. That’s right, both of them! Confirmed legends Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba will be sitting down with us for a look back at their storied careers, from the classic sports film Bring It On to TV’s groundbreaking Dark Angel, to today, as their current show L.A.’s Finest brings them together at last. Find out what it’s like to go from teen idols to queens of Hollywood, with two women who’ve managed to do just that without compromising their ethics. And hey, maybe we’ll finally figure out their skin-care secrets?
Conversations
Rachel Bloom in Conversation With Her 5th-Grade Bully
She and her very real-life fifth-grade bully are reuniting at Vulture Festival for a conversation, because, truly, why not?
Before she was a glamorous, Emmy and Golden Globe–winning celebrity, Rachel Bloom, star and creator of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend who will publish her first book in November (I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are), was bullied. And now, she and her very real-life fifth-grade bully are reuniting at Vulture Festival for a conversation, because, truly, why not? This certainly won’t be the craziest thing to happen this year month, but it might just be the most healing. Join Rachel and her bully for a chat about the traumas we inflict on one another, whether we ever grow out of it, and how some of this just might maybe, possibly, sort of be relevant to literally everything happening in the world today.
TV
A Night with the New Girl Boys
Presented by Roku
After months of quarantining, who doesn’t need a night with the boys? But not just any boys, specifically the boys from Fox’s beloved sitcom New Girl. Join Jake Johnson, Max Greefield, Lamorne Morris, and Damon Wayans Jr. for a true guys night. We’ll share feelings and memories and probably some thoughts on sports, live from what we’ll all pretend is our virtual blanket fort. Maybe one of them will make sangria? Who knows! We can’t really control what the stars do in their own homes.
The Industry
The Winkler Method: A Henry Winkler Acting Class
He’s looking forward to helping you (yes, you!) find your muse.
So you wanna be an actor, huh, kid? Well, as Gene Cousineau might say, “I don’t believe you!†Henry Winkler does, though, and the advice he gave us after his 2018 Emmy win for HBO’s Barry was, “Prepare so that you are not a flash in the pan.†Winkler’s approach has earned him a career that has spanned almost 50 years as an actor, producer, and director. From his role as the Fonz in Happy Days, who set a new standard for “cool,†to the unforgettably hapless lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in Arrested Development, Winkler’s range is unparalleled. And now he’s looking forward to helping you (yes, you!) find your muse as he answers pre-submitted questions from students and lovers of the craft.